He escaped from two prisons: see how he did it 0:52
(CNN) -
A North Korean defector who escaped from a prison in northeast China has been recaptured by authorities after more than 40 days on the run in the winter cold.
The 39-year-old man, identified by Chinese authorities as Zhu Xianjian, had just two years to go to serve his sentence when he starred in a leak that went viral, state media reported.
Court documents detail that Zhu was a North Korean coal miner who swam across a river to a Chinese town in Tumen city, Jilin province, in 2013. He was arrested that same year and sentenced to 11 years in prison for crossing in 2014. illegal border, theft and robbery, which would be followed by deportation, according to a court ruling.
He escaped from two prisons: see how he did it 0:52
The escape of the North Korean defector
Zhu, whose sentence was reduced twice due to his good behavior, escaped from the Jilin City Prison on October 18.
His dramatic escape, which was videotaped and included using a rope to damage an electric fence and jumping off a high prison wall, led to online speculation that Zhu was a former member of the North Korean military.
A related hashtag on Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter, has since attracted more than 800 million views.
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Authorities offered a reward of more than US $ 23,000 for his capture, and subsequently raised it to more than US $ 100,000, more than 350 times the average monthly income of local residents.
On Sunday, Jilin police said in a statement that Zhu had been detained at around 10 a.m. local time, without offering further details.
In a video of his arrest, published by the state daily Global Times, an emaciated Zhu is seen being carried by police officers by his arms and legs on a pier.
In a related recording, he can be heard wailing as he is put into a car.
Zhu is believed to have been shot in the leg and sent to hospital for treatment.
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Deserters
On Weibo, some users expressed surprise that Zhu was able to survive for so long in the cold, with temperatures below zero degrees in the past 10 days.
North Korean defectors who are returned to their home country can suffer serious consequences, including torture and sexual abuse, according to Human Rights Watch.
In their pursuit of Zhu, the police mistakenly detained another man, who bore an unfortunate resemblance to Zhu, five times over the course of three days, according to state media.
"My first reaction is that the guy who looks like him can finally be free," commented a user in the Global Times publication about Zhu's arrest.
North Korea defector
